Entries in Great British Baking Show
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This is my third week attempting the GBBS technical challenge. Let’s get to a few things straight right off the bat. It’s not a true challenge. I know that.

I have clear advantages. From the start, I know what the challenge is. My recipe isn’t stripped down. I know what it’s “supposed” to look like. I’ve seen others make it with successes and failures.

And here’s why all that doesn’t matter. You can give the same recipe to 12 (in this case 13) different people and 12/13 different results get churned out.

This week’s challenge was Paul Hollywood’s Baguette recipe. I’ve made a lot of bread with varying degrees of success. I’ve had loaves explode and others fall in the middle. I’ve made plain white bread, rye, spelt, whole-wheat honey, sweet bread, but never attempted a baguette(s). For some reason baguettes scared me, I guess because they’re so quintessentially French and the French really know how to bake.

I’m not going to let any of that bother me today. I’ve 2 ½ hours to make 4 crusty baguettes. Time starts now, and there’s Sue’s voice in my ear….BAAAAAKE.

Making the dough with my kitchen aide was a dream. It couldn’t have been easier. With 2:11hours to go the dough is in the plastic container, in the oven with the light on and will stay there until it doubles. Now the recipe I had doesn’t mention anything about kneading by hand. It pretty much lets it all happen in the mixing bowl. So, that’s an advantage for me.

I must have misplaced my linen couche so I improvised with a piece of canvas I had (no idea why) and a few binder clips (which I have to say I thought was pretty gosh darn clever of me).

With 1:21hours to go, I had divided my dough, rolled and pinched the seams, floured and turned them into my makeshift couche. I let them double again.

So far, this seems like the easiest challenge. These baguettes don’t seem to be THAT difficult at all. I’m actually pretty pleased with myself and a little bit excited. Until the clock starts ticking down and I can’t tell if my loaves are rising (I left them at room temp covered). Now I’m a bit antsy and worried. I’ve written this before, it’s slightly ridiculous on my part - I’M NOT BEING JUDGED. With 36:37 on the clock, I stick my overly floured baguettes in the oven (with a pan of water – which I always do anyway – so Paul Hollywood, you wouldn’t have tricked me with that omission!). Four baguettes out with 12:56 left. I did it.

Verdict – I had 4 baguettes relatively the same size with the correct cuts on top. They were under proved, with a seam that you could see on the bottom. The structure of my baguette was decent with an “ish” open texture, not great, but good. They were definitely crispy, since they were a touch over baked (I thought), so the color was good a little more than golden.

To put it in perspective - My baguettes were not as good as Ian (star baker again). A lot better than Paul (10), Nadia (9), Sandy (7), Dorret (6), and Ugne (5). Mine were most like Flora (2), Tamal (3), Alvin (4) and Matt (8). Basically, under proved, crispy, decent texture, slightly dark, good flavor. I over did it on the flour during baking, but all in all – I thought I’d be mid-div again some where around 5th-6th.

Would I make it again? Yes. This recipe is a keeper. Straight forward, delicious, and the more you make them the easier they’ll be. Plus you get 4 wonderful homemade loaves of bread in one go or freeze a few for a later date. No longer am I afraid of making baguettes – thank you British Baking Show, Paul and Mary <3.

This is my second week attempting the GBBS technical challenge. Let’s get to a few things straight right off the bat. It’s not a true challenge. I know that.

I have clear advantages. From the start, I know what the challenge is. My recipe isn’t stripped down. I know what it’s “supposed” to look like. I’ve seen others make it with successes and failures.

And here’s why all that doesn’t matter. You can give the same recipe to 12 (in this case 13) different people and 12/13 different results get churned out.

I’m giving myself the same time limit that the bakers get. I know, I know – I’m in the comfort of my own home without a TV crew or judges in my face asking me unnerving questions to shatter my already fragile confidence. So, again, an advantage, but I still thought this would/could be fun. I want to see if I can produce something anywhere close to what Paul and Mary would approve of and/or what it should look like. We shall see.

This week’s challenge was Paul Hollywood’s Arlettes. I’ve never had an Arlette, but I have made puff pastry, I’ve just never made “reversed” puff pastry. And this recipe looks tricky. Even the full recipe from the BBC Food website is a little vague in certain steps. I’m not going to let any of that bother me, I’ve 2 ½ hours to make the Arlettes. Time starts now, and I can almost hear Sue’s voice….BAAAAAKE.

The dough recipe was pretty straight-forward, I had no issues there at all. The butter portion of the dough, turned out really, really soft which I guess is normal since it needs to be rolled out. All that went fine, while between the cling film (emphasis while in the cling film). Banged the doughy dough in the freezer to chill and the butter dough in the fridge. Took me about 20minutes (including kneading) to get them both done. At this point I was pretty happy with myself. This wasn’t the sloppy, messy, sticky situation I had last week (yet).

Time to wrap and book turn for the 1st time and it was a MESS. Let’s keep in mind, I’d already seen this done, and still messed up. After folding the butter around the dough – I rolled, just like the recipe indicated. Well, there was more butter on the rolling pin than on the dough. I scraped the butter back onto the dough, added some flour, put the cling film back on and rolled again. It seemed to look okay, did my book turn and popped the dough back in the freezer.

With 57minutes left, and one more turn to go, the dough looked smooth. I was pretty confident that all would work out at this point. 45minutes to go, final turn time, roll and chill, this time with the sugar filling incorporated. Back in the freezer for another 25minutes. Again, the swiss roll looked great and soon I’d have 8 perfect Arlettes.

And this is when the anticipated panic set in. When I cut the Swiss roll, the individual pieces unraveled, leaving little tails. I kept thinking I’m going to have little snails like Paul. With 18miutes on the clock, 8 Arlettes in the oven, tails tucked underneath and rolled flat (I hope).

Sticky mess alert

These not so little biscuits needed a solid 10minutes, and they still didn’t crisp up enough (for Paul and Mary’s taste – I could tell). I finally pulled them out with 6:26 on the clock to cool.

Verdict – Looking at the mine, they definitely weren’t thin enough, like Nadiya’s. She came in 9th. Also, they were a bit chewy in the middle, Tamale (8th) had the same problem, but like Ian’s they were crispy and chewy, so I’m giving myself some credit there. Ian came in 3rd. Paul’s Arlettes (10th) had tails, so did mine, but I rolled them under, the judges would never have known (yeah right).

To put it in perspective – Overall, I had 8 Arlettes, with distinct layers and swirl, they were a bit thicker, but were crispy, if not a little chewy in the middle. I think I’d have come in mid-div, and be safe from going home.

Would I make these on my own? Only if I was bored stupid and felt a compelling desire to practice my “reverse” puff pastry technique. Here’s what’s fun about these challenges – I’m learning something new each week. It’s really a good way to gain baking knowledge. Bring on the next challenge!